Have you ever had a rootball go bad? Sometimes the heart of the palm goes bad and infects the entire trunk with rot. This isn't a regular occurance at my shop but it is extremely frustrating - I have a waiting list for rootball tiki customers. The last time this happened to me I grabbed my chainsaw in a fit of rage and sliced the rootball right off (about six inches from the base). I discarded the rotten trunk and about three weeks later performed a Frankenstein-esque experiment. Using the trusty chainsaw, I hollowed out the heart of the rootball head. Although the interior was mushy, the outer three inches of the stock was nice and hard. Next, I found a nice piece of palm stock with a diameter slightly smaller than that of the rootball and married the two together. It is a basic plug-n-socket fit with 3" woodscrews driven from the outside at four inch intervals. After carving and burnishing the tiki, I concealed the seam with several bands of 1" thick hemp rope...sort of a headband effect. Anyway, this "monster" turned out pretty cool. Now I can use the rootball regardless of the shape of the trunk. Cool huh?

Pablus,
That sounds like fun...I usually attend two art shows a month, but if I'm not off somewhere doing a show I'd be glad to knock back a few boat drinks with ya. Of course you might be able to catch me at the Grant Seafood festival in February on your way down south. Beer and seafood and art! Of course, you're welcome to stop by my tiki lair, too. I work out of my house but I usually have a dozen finished tikis standing around and another dozen being worked on. Folks come by all the time and look...and buy. Here's a link to one of my recent rooty mon tikis: www.tikimon.net/Customer/customer.htmllet me know what you think.